Are non-natural minerals a scam?

No, but they are certainly scam-adjacent. Everything comes down to the ethics and communication of the person selling the item. If they are trying to sell something altered or fake as if it were genuine then yes, it's a scam (or, sometimes they were the ones scammed!). Customers should be given accurate identities on materials and fully informed of anything out of the norm.

This is referred to as 'disclosure,' and it is best practice to disclose mineral alterations. If you were sold something without being informed that it was lab-grown, dyed, or glued together, you have every right to feel lied to! It is a lie of omission.

In fairness to vendors, there are many materials where the alteration is so apparent or commonly known that it may not occur to dealers to disclose. They may think it is obvious the geode has been dyed bright pink because to them it's so clearly unnatural, or they might assume everyone knows opalite is a man-made glass.

I don't believe in making assumptions and find it can be a bit of a gate-keeping experience for new hobbyists. I have observed far too many casual collectors who don't understand that carved points aren't naturally formed, or that a color is artificial. It's a disappointing experience to learn these things after buying a piece, and sows doubt about future purchases. Often consumers would be happy to buy it even with the alteration—if only sellers were up front about it!

The following outlines how common terms are understood in the industry, but be warned these terms are increasingly being misused by shady (or uneducated) dealers to try to downplay the type of alteration. An example is calling a piece repaired when it is actually compiled; the former is far more accepted practice in the industry.

Fakes, synthetic, treated, lab-grown, enhanced—what's the difference?

Natural and genuine are meaningless terms that professionals usually don't include it in their descriptions. It is standard to leave this unsaid. The assumption should be that the material is natural unless indicated otherwise. These are common "fluff" terms used in descriptions, but also increasingly popular with online vendors selling things that are very much neither natural nor genuine.

Faux, fake, phony, whatever you want to call it, these are not real minerals. They are things like glass, plastic, or resin dyed and cut or molded to imitate crystals. Alternately, with gemstones 'fake' can mean something created to be passed off as a more valuable mineral. An example would be a faux sapphire made from a layer of blue resin sandwiched between two pieces of colorless sapphire (a style known as a 'triplet') to imitate a real stone. Quick testing would show the material is a sapphire, but could miss the phony coloration.

Synthetic is the same as lab-grown, and means this is a gem or mineral that has been grown by people. Synthetics are grown by replicating the chemical building blocks and environment for crystal growth in a lab (though some are easy enough you can make them at home!).

There are gems and minerals that only exist as synthetics, and have no natural counterpart. Otherwise, synthetics are chemically and structurally identical to their natural counterparts; a synthetic diamond will be just as sparkly and hard as a real one. Unethical sellers can take advantage of this, passing off synthetics as natural or claiming it is real because 'technically' it is virtually the same. Watch out for tricky language; if you ask whether it's real they might respond something like "yes it is a real synthetic diamond."

In theory you can't tell the difference between many synthetics and the real deal, but many synthetic processes produce a crystal habit (growth form) that is different from natural crystal habits. Lab-made materials usually do a poor job of matching color to nature. Synthetics usually just look a bit off.

Man-made means the same as "synthetic" in the industry, but is also loosely applied to compiled pieces and mineral art & decor by vendors.

Simulants are materials used as an imitation of a more desirable gem or mineral. For example, synthetic CZ (Cubic Zirconia) is a well-known diamond simulant. Other common diamond simulants include synthetic moissanite, glass, and colorless sapphire (some more convincing than others). Trickery is not the point of a simulant; many people buy them as inexpensive alternatives in fashion jewelry, or as an ethical alternative to diamonds. But many people also can't tell real from simulant, making them ripe for fraud.

Treated means it is a real mineral, but it has been altered to improve its appearance. This most commonly means changing the color or making the color more vibrant. Dye is the most basic method, but the color of minerals can also be altered through processes like irradiation and high heat treatments.

Enhanced is a euphemism for treated. It's most commonly used to refer to treatments that improve color like heat and high pressure, compared to things like dye and aqua aura.

Compiled means that real minerals have been glued (epoxied, etc.) together to create a fake specimen. A common example is when individual quartz crystals dislodged from various specimens are glued together to create a "geode." Complied pieces also often combine minerals in ways they don't occur in nature, with one mineral artistically perched atop or jutting out of another one like the 'selenite on amethyst' combo that has become popular in recent years. These specimens are sometimes euphemistically labeled as "sculptures" or art pieces with or without clarifying this means 'compiled.'

Repaired means a real mineral broke and has been glued back together. A crystal perched on the specimen got knocked off during the mining process, or a dropped piece split in two. A repair restores the specimen to its original condition and shouldn't be obvious. Read more about repairs on how to detect them. There is similarly restoration work which is more like what a museum would do: if part of a specimen is missing or broken they expertly reconstruct it.

It can be complicated

A specimen can be a mix of the above factors. In fact, many methods for growing synthetics require a "seed" piece of crystals for the crystal to grow off of, which is often natural material. This means you might see mixed signals in a specimen: signs that it is real like natural inclusions, next to inclusions associated with synthetic material.

Quartz has been a popular one in recent years, where small synthetic quartz needles are grown on the surface of synthetic or natural quartz points. Specimens like the one pictured here are not a normal growth form or natural color for a quartz cluster, but these are commonly passed off as real specimens. They are both compiled and synthetic: this piece has been made by glueing together multiple synthetic quartz points and then growing a fine layer of quartz "druzy" on top to cover evidence of glue. Note that yellow crystal in the middle is a common signature for these synthetic quartz creations, and is also a red flag that the specimen is not real.

It can be impossible to tell whether something is treated

A lot of mineral treatments simply recreate the natural processes of our earth. Heat is a key ingredient in the coloration of a lot of materials. A lot of citrine for sale is simply heat-treated amethyst. Most tanzanite is a murky brownish color until heat treatment brings out the vibrant violet hues—tanzanite can (infrequently) come out of the ground that way if it was naturally heated. 

Smoky quartz gets its dark hue from exposure to natural radiation within the earth; people irradiate the material to artificially darken it. In theory it can be impossible to tell whether something like smoky quartz has been irradiated naturally or by people, but in practice you can often learn the difference in appearance. Smoky quartz can naturally appear black, but somehow the irradiated black is too crisp looking. Do you think you can see the difference?

A final word of warning

It seems like every time consumers figure out a fake or a new (undisclosed) treatment and alerts go out, people start start working on a new one. Every few years a wave of some new flavor of bullshit blasts through the market and people try to sell as many as possible before the public catches on. They often try to sneak under the radar as some "new never-before-seen find." Always proceed with caution if something seems too good to be true.

Unethical practices are an ever-present factor in the gem and mineral trade, but the behavior proliferates much more online compared to in-person. That unfortunately seems to be true of a lot of online shopping these days! These are the best of times, these are the scammiest of times. You can take time to study a listing and a seller before buying, but fake reviews and edited images can make it hard to parse good from bad until you learn it the hard way.

This is where practice makes perfect: the more you go to mineral museums, attend shows, and see images of crystals online, the more obvious it will be when something doesn't seem right. I have suggested a few resources I've found valuable in the Sources and Outside Learning page.